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Virgin Galactic to Launch from Scottish Base?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the scotch-and-liftoff-please dept.

Lancey writes "The BBC reports that Richard Branson wants to launch Virgin Galactic space flights from a Royal Air Force base in Moray, Scotland, as early as 2010." From the article: "We are designing it so that we will be able to tour it around the world. So we will have a main base in New Mexico and we are looking at three bases outside there to be able to operate from."

44 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. What about the equator? by LotsOfPhil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I thought that it was better to launch things from the equator. Something about angular momentum, maybe? This is (I thought) why the ESA launches from Equatorial Guinea, or some such.

    --
    This post climbed Mt. Washington.
    1. Re:What about the equator? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      ESA launches from French Guiana. Actually.

    2. Re:What about the equator? by tgd · · Score: 4, Informative

      Thats only if you're going to try to get into orbit easily.

      They're not trying to get into orbit.

    3. Re:What about the equator? by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      I thought that it was better to launch things from the equator. Something about angular momentum, maybe?

      If you want to get in, or escape earth orbit, yes.
      But Virgin Galactic only goes to the edge of "space" and then falls right back down.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    4. Re:What about the equator? by badfish99 · · Score: 2, Funny
      ... and then falls right back down.

      Yes, that sounds about right. It's what I'd expect to happen to a spaceship run by the same company that runs Virgin trains.

    5. Re:What about the equator? by Rincewind42 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The equator is useful for launching. But what goes up must come down. You need to land as well as take off. There are rumors that NASA designated Machrihanish airport as an emergency landing site for the Shuttle. Though never used for that purpose to date. Machrihanish is over 3km long and remote from populations. Lossiemouth would have similar advantages with the addition of up to date modern facilities.

      Contrary to popular conceptions, the North East of Scotland actually enjoys quite good weather most of the year round. It's only the west of Scotland that gets really heavy rain. Ref: Met Office map of UK average rainfall

  2. SpaceShipTwo by SYSS+Mouse · · Score: 1

    so... what is the news about SS2? (and possiblt SS3)

    1. Re:SpaceShipTwo by fireman+sam · · Score: 1

      The Sony Space Station 2 was a success, but the Sony Space Station 3 will be overly expensive for the hardware and the games.

      --
      it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
  3. The old formula... by zeropointburn · · Score: 1

    Anyone else feel like Branson's making headway on those dastardly ellipses? A couple of spaceports would sure go a long way for MY world domination schemes...

    --
    -1 raving lunatic; +6 subGenius... Things even out...
  4. Lead - engineer by thrill12 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... will probably be Scotty:
    "Aye Cap'n Branson, but she can't take much more !"

    --
    Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
    1. Re:Lead - engineer by turgid · · Score: 1

      ..."Of these English tourists!"

      /me ducks.

      --
      Stick Men
  5. I hope their ship is rainproof by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With 450+ days of rain each year up there, a shuttle could never do that.
    If you add the latitude consideration and the possibility to organize flights for tourists, Spain or Moroco would seem a better idea.

    1. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      What planet are you from that has 450 days per year?

    2. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You've never been to Scotland, have you?

    3. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by tehgimpness · · Score: 5, Funny

      What planet are you from that has 450 days per year?

      It's part of an EU directive to ensure effective and fair distribution of rainfall in the europe. Each country has a number of rainfall tokens which are spent on rainfall per annum. Scotland import the rainfall by accepting rainfall tokens from other european countries to ensure that the rainfall exporters have more sunshine throughout the year. Italy and Greece are europes chief exporters. The UK and Poland are nett importers. England and Wales have 279 days of rainfall a year and have accepted 23 'grey skies and light showers' and 9 'fog' days from mainland europe in return for preferential North Sea fishing areas.

      --


      ZOMGWTFPWNtKKTHNXBIBI!!!ONE!111!!!
    4. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by taskforce · · Score: 1, Informative

      450 days of rain? In a 365 day year? Jeeze, that's only -85 days of sun a year!

      --
      My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
    5. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by smittyoneeach · · Score: 1

      Frugal, no?

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    6. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by Wizard+Drongo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The truly sad thing is, it takes one a minute or so to digest the above comment and realise it is in fact a joke and not actually true. That's how bad the EU can be. We're talking about the drones that actually put down on the books a statue on how bendy a banana has to be before it's eligible to be sold.

      --
      The truth shall always be free: Boris Floricic is Tron.
    7. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by ichigo+2.0 · · Score: 1

      I think it's pretty obviously a joke, doesn't even take a moment to "digest". While there are statutes (statue is probably not the word you were looking for) that describe the maximum curvature (among other attributes) bananas can have and still be sold as bananas, it really isn't as silly as you make it sound; would you want to order a ton of A-class bananas only to wind up with a truckload of fucked up mutant banana lookalikes that noone will buy? Having minimal quality standards isn't a bad thing IMO, YMMV.

    8. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by eriktown · · Score: 1

      I believe that since the SS* series is launched from a carrier aircraft, rain and low-altitude cloud cover will not be an issue, because the carrier vehicle can simply ascend above the cloud deck prior to launching the spacecraft.

    9. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by Wizard+Drongo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Whoops, my bad. My standing as a slashdot grammar Nazi may suffer due to this, but I do avow that the misspelling in question is because my Apple iMac tangerine keyboard is a fair few years old, and whist I have a spiffy new MacBook, with a spiffy new keyboard on it, when at my desk, the old tangerine gets a hammering. Probably due for a replacement. Some of the hammers don't always connect, even if my fingers hit the key. You're right to a degree on the minimal standards. But the EU's bureaucracy is well known. A lot of their regulations exist solely because certain failed politicians who get sent to the EC as an easy-life 'reward', wish to have a legacy, and see easily voted-in pointless legislation as their ticket into the history books. See Neil "Babies? Love 'em. Vote for Me! Terrorists? Lovely, Vote for Me!" Kinnock and his wife, Ugly as an example of the EU gravy train and it's embarrassing catalogue of legislative mistakes.

      --
      The truth shall always be free: Boris Floricic is Tron.
    10. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by $rtbl_this · · Score: 1

      Have you ever been to Scotland? It sounds like a conservative estimate to me!

      Anyway, am I the only one who'd balk at taking a space flight from Scotland operated by a company that can barely run a train service out of there?

      --
      "Are you being weird, or sarcastic?" said Emma. I said I didn't know because I get the two feelings mixed up.
    11. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by bannerman · · Score: 1

      Your sig is missing the all important "one", as in "ZOMGWTFPWNKKTHNXBIBI!!!!111one!!!"

      --
      I keep forgetting my place. Jesus is for losers. Why do I still play to the crowd?
    12. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by tehgimpness · · Score: 1

      Your sig is missing the all important "one", as in "ZOMGWTFPWNKKTHNXBIBI!!!!111one!!!"

      f!X0r3D11!!ELEVEN1!! Phew, thanks for pointing that out. I must have looked like a right idiot!

      --


      ZOMGWTFPWNtKKTHNXBIBI!!!ONE!111!!!
    13. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by Petrushka · · Score: 1

      What planet are you from that has 450 days per year?

      You laugh, and justly, but just as a matter of interest, the year 46 BCE had -- well, not quite 450 days -- but ca. 445 days. (It was the year that the Romans transitioned from the chaotic old republican calendar to the shiny new Julian calendar. They got it wrong at first, mind you, having leap years every three years instead of four because of a misunderstanding, but they worked it out eventually.)

    14. Re:I hope their ship is rainproof by davidmcw · · Score: 1

      Being from Scotland, I can assure you that it just feels like 450+ days of rain in a year.

      --
      Just because your paranoid doesn't really mean they aren't out to get you
  6. Nothing to see... by HaydnH · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nothing to see here... no really! It's a broken link! Here's a working link to the article.

    --
    Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
  7. if its not scottish by scottnews · · Score: 1

    http://sounds.wavcentral.com/televis/snl/scottish_ crap.mp3 its crap!

  8. Strange headline by biglig2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The interesting thing is that he intends to launch in 2010, not so much that he's going to run it out of Scotland. I mean, he was likely to have at least one launch point in the UK if it was technically feasable, and it was never likely to be Heathrow. ;-)

    --
    ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
  9. Never by JustOK · · Score: 1, Funny

    Never underestimate the repulsive power of the Scottish and their hagis.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
  10. Lossiemouth is the perfect location! by dnnrly · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been to good ol' Lossie. I think it's perfect! Takeoffs would occur over the bay which opens up to the North Sea. Lossiemouth itself isn't hugely populated but it does lie next door to the base. There is a housing estate right up to the fence on one side (with the local pub about 1 mile from the main entrance), all other sides are clear and the nearest large town is Elgin about 10 miles away.

    As long as they are careful to take off and land over the water I can't see many problems at all.

    1. Re:Lossiemouth is the perfect location! by applemacmad · · Score: 2, Informative

      Personally I wouldn't like a rocket taking off from across my garden fence (the base is on the other side of the road). Local pub? I would say there are at least 7!

    2. Re:Lossiemouth is the perfect location! by t_allardyce · · Score: 1

      Its a plane not a rocket...

      --
      This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  11. But... by Clazzy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Think of the poor haggis! The shock of a rocket launching could tip them over and they'll roll down the hills, killing thousands! This injustice cannot be allowed to happen!

    --
    If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate.
    1. Re:But... by Filmcell-Keyrings · · Score: 1

      Och! Ya greit ejit, a fully grown haggis is not much larger then a rugby ball, and wouldn't kill anyone as it rolled down a hill.

      --
      Never rub another man's rhubarb
    2. Re:But... by Clazzy · · Score: 1

      But thousands of haggis hunters will wait in glee as they roll down, making them easy prey. They could wipe the haggis population out entirely!

      --
      If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate.
    3. Re:But... by Filmcell-Keyrings · · Score: 1

      These days most haggis are farm reared. The wild haggis is protected under the Auchterturra Accord of 1987.

      --
      Never rub another man's rhubarb
  12. Deja vu by suthers · · Score: 1, Informative

    That's funny. I'm sure I remember writing http://skymania.blogspot.com/2006/06/hoots-mon-we- have-problem.htmlthis story way back on June 9.

  13. I live there! by Criffer · · Score: 1

    Or did. Nearly. Actually, I grew up in Buckie, which on a clear day, you can see Lossiemouth over the other end of the Spey Bay.

    1. Re:I live there! by palswim · · Score: 1
      I grew up in Buckie, which on a clear day, you can see Lossiemouth
      First you have 450+ days of rain in a year and now you tell me you have time for clear days, too?
  14. Re:Nah, not Lossiemouth by ksheff · · Score: 1
    From the article:
    "It has relatively little overflying by aircraft, there are not people on the ground who could get injured and RAF Lossiemouth is an ideal location."
    Maybe Manston has too many people on the ground or too much air traffic around it?
    --
    the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
  15. Branson's already in space... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    Anyone seen Superman Returns? Sir Richard Branson has a cameo as one of the shuttle pilots. I almost didn't recognize him as the shots were brief, but my suspicions were confirmed by the credits.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  16. I love Virgin by QuantumG · · Score: 1

    I think Richard Branson is an inspiration to all. But, and you knew there was a 'but', this venture is taking a very long time. Some of you may think 8 years is a reasonable amount of time to go from winning the X-Prize to offering rides to paying customers, but compare this to every other Virgin branded venture. Branson is renouned for entering existing markets quickly and offering superior service. The Virgin interest in suborbital flights is more similar to Branson's ballooning exploits than it is to his business exploits. I just wish people weren't resting on their laurels waiting for Branson.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:I love Virgin by mdfst13 · · Score: 1

      There are other alternatives to Virgin Galactic, e.g. http://www.blueorigin.com/index.html